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NUTRIENTS IN WATERSHEDS: DEVELOPING ENHANCED MODELING TOOLS
Citation:
Washington, J W. NUTRIENTS IN WATERSHEDS: DEVELOPING ENHANCED MODELING TOOLS. Presented at Science Forum 2003, Washington, DC, May 5-7, 2003.
Impact/Purpose:
Improve the scientific understanding of the processes controlling nutrient distributions in surface waters. Produce a suite of enhanced models for characterizing nutrient distributions in surface waters by incorporating improved process understanding in existing models (e.g., WASP), by developing new models (e.g., WHAM, reactive transport), and improving linkages between model components.
Description:
Nutrient enrichment is one of the most important stressors causing water-resource impairment. These impairments are causing devastating changes: 1) high nitrate concentrations have rendered the groundwaters and reservoirs in many regions impotable -- especially in the rural areas of the US heartland where these sources are important domestic-water sources; 2) eutrophic effects in many fresh surface waters are stimulating harmful species -- e.g., the zebra mussel in the Great Lakes and pfiesteria in the Neuse River; and 3) the commercial productivity of our nation's coastal waters is in the midst of protracted decline, e.g. hypoxia and "dead zones" in estuaries of the Gulf of Mexico. Because of these and other effects, unchecked nutrient fluxes in the environment constitute one of the gravest impacts on the quality of life in the US.
This project is divided into two major areas: 1) Process Science; and 2) Model Development. The Process Science research aims to identify and better elucidate specific sources of uncertainty with respect to nutrient fate in the environment. In the Modeling Development research area, several models are being developed in parallel. We plan to use some of these models to illuminate relations among media that we intend to quantify as we understand them better, e.g., effect of groundwater nutrients on surface-water quality. We plan to link other models in an open architecture environment that will be available to Program-Office users, e.g., Sediment Diagenesis and WASP.
This improved suite of models is being developed in partnerships with Region 4, Office of Water (OW) National Nutrient Criteria Program (NNCP), USDA/ARS; and USGS.